Kratke Range

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The Kraetkegebirge (also: Krätkegebirge, English Kratke Range) is a mountain range in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

The mountain range is the headwaters of the rivers Aziana and Yaiga and the Ramu, which drains the area to the northwest.

The Kraetkegebirge was discovered in November 1889 in the then the German colony of German New Guinea belonging Kaiser-Wilhelms -Land of Hugo Zöller with his expedition in the Finisterre Mountains and described as another, situated inland and 3000-3500 m high mountain. Reinhold Kraetke was at that time Governor of New Guinea.

The Kraetkegebirge runs south of Finisterre Mountains on the other side of the river to the east of Markham and closes at the Bismarck Mountains. The Kraetkegebirge was explored in detail only after the German colonial period in the early 1920s.

One of the peaks in Kraetkegebirge was named inch mountain. The highest peak is Mount Tabletop with 3,686 m height.

The mountain is of volcanic origin and is covered by tropical mountain rain forest. Above 3,000 m outweighs alpine grasslands. In the mountains live several endemic bird species, including for example the Olivpapagei.